Golf: State's top seniors tee it up at Charlevoix Country Club

CHARLEVOIX -- A more advantageous spot on the golf calender, a new owner, and two years of experience are all factors that have those around Charlevoix Country Club in an upbeat mood.

The club will host its third consecutive Michigan Senior PGA Professional Championship on Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 6-7. More than 50 of the state top golf professionals age 50 and over will partake in the 36-hole stroke play event.

"We're thrilled with the larger field," said Dave Mocini, the club's vice president of golf operations and development and a longtime PGA member who was the driving force behind bringing the tournament to Charlevoix beginning in 2010. "I think we're 12, 13 players more than we had last year."

A boost in the size of the field gives the tournament more qualifying spots for the Senior Professional National Championship, which is scheduled for Virginia in October. Nine players will advance from Charlevoix to the National, as opposed to seven in the previous two years that the tournament was played at the club.

Part of the increase in participation comes with a move to a later date, one that comes after the Tournament of Champions, which concluded Wednesday at Boyne Mountain.

The Senior PGA is two weeks later on the calendar than it was last summer, when it started just as Charlevoix's Venetian Festival was closing.

That has helped increase community involvement, sponsorship, and participation in the Sunday pro-am, Mocini said.

"Much better response from players and support from the community," he said. "It worked out a lot better. We've had a significant bump in sponsorship this year.

"I think as a rule what we've heard the first two years from the players and their significant others is that they love the area. If you're playing in the Tournament of Champions, now you've got back-to back weeks (of tournament golf)."

The field includes many of the legendary names in Michigan tournament golf, including Lynn Janson and Randy Erskine, who have amassed some 20 state Major titles between them, along with the likes of Steve Brady and PGA Life Member Larry Mancour of Oden.

Barry Redmond of the Boyne Golf Academy is also in the field, as is Jerry Pasco, who won the tournament in 2010 in its inaugural stop at Charlevoix. Erskine is the defending champion.

"The majority of them have been playing with and against each other for 20, 30 years so it is a friendly competition at this point with everybody being serious about getting one of those nine (National) spots," Mocini said.

Frederick Taylor took over as the club owner in April and his arrival triggered a spruce-up which will help it put on its best face for the tournament, Mocini said.

Bunker renovations, an improvement in turf quality, and the overall aesthetics have improved, he said.

"You can see it," Mocini said. "It's very evident that something as happened there. I think on the visual impression side of things, everything is happening the way we thought it would. It's going to be a fresh look for everybody coming in."

The event kicks off 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 5, with a free one-hour presentation, Making Golf Fun, which is open to the public. The pro-am follows at 1 p.m.

Erskine, Janson, Pasco, Mocini and Thomas Leamon of Grand Rapids are among those expected to lead the presentation.

Mocini said myriad topics are on the agenda, from equipment, to course management, the PGA's Tee It Forward campaign, to maintaining distance as a golfer ages.

Per custom, the purpose of the pro-am is two-fold: Socialization and, more importantly, to raise money for charity. The beneficiaries are the Charlevoix Junior Golf program, Mount McSauba Day Camp, and the Charlevoix Area Community Pool.

While the tournament serves to identify the best senior professional golfer in the state and to give others a chance to earn a trip to the National, it also is a help to the club and the Charlevoix area, Mocini said.

"it was a win-win in my mind when we approached (the Michigan PGA) to do it," he said. "We wanted to get people thinking about Charlevoix as a destination, a place to come and play golf.

"The concept was that it was good for the area, good for the facility to get people talking about it around the state, and at the end of the day it encourages some people to come up and take a look, try the course, look at property."

SENIOR MOMENTSWHAT: Michigan Senior PGA Professional Championship

WHERE: Charlevoix Country Club

WHEN: Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 6-7

WHO: Some 50 of the state's top golf professionals age 50 and over

FORMAT: 36 holes, stroke play

AT STAKE: Top nine finishers earn a spot in the Senior Professional National Championship

DEFENDING CHAMP: Randy Erskine

PRELUDE: Making Golf Fun, a free one-hour clinic open to the public, is scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 5, at the club.